Liturgy of the hours options - need expert advice
  • RobertRobert
    Posts: 343
    For pastoral reasons (say, encouraging the active participation of a congregation) is it permissible to use the antiphons and psalms from the Ordinary Time four week cycle of Sunday Evening Prayer II on every Sunday of the year, rather than using the proper antiphons and psalms for various seasons and on solemnities?

    In other words, could one disregard the proper antiphons and psalms for the Second Sunday of Advent or the Solemnity of Christ the King, or another solemnity that would displace a Sunday such as Dedication of the Lateran, and use the Sunday antiphons and psalms for ordinary time instead?

    If so, are there any exceptions? (Easter maybe?)

    It seems that the General Instruction of the LOTH offers this kind of flexibility, but the options are so complex that I'm left unsure.
  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    I am not sure, but I doubt it, since even the "Shorter Morning and Evening Prayer" contains antiphons and such for these special sundays.
    Thanked by 1Robert
  • igneusigneus
    Posts: 394
    I think everything (or nearly everything) you need to know is in GILotH 247:

    "In the office for Sundays, solemnities, feasts of the Lord listed in the General Calendar, the weekdays of Lent and Holy Week, the days within the octaves of Easter and Christmas, and the weekdays from 17 to 24 December inclusive, it is never permissible to change the formularies that are proper or adapted to the celebration, such as antiphons, hymns, readings, responsories, prayers, and very often also the psalms.

    In place of the Sunday psalms of the current week, there is an option to substitute the Sunday psalms of a different week, and, in the case of an office celebrated with a congregation, even other psalms especially chosen to lead the people step by step to an understanding of the psalms."

    The answer to your question seems to be simply "no".
  • igneusigneus
    Posts: 394
    (I understand the second part of the paragraph as a general norm and the first part as a special norm - which has priority over the general. If my interpretation is right, then you are allowed to make use of the concession granted in the second part whenever the first part doesn't apply.)
    Thanked by 1Robert
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